Tin Man: The Wrath of the NOME
by D. W. Tyn
Summary: Set one year after Tin Man. When the mad Witch Mombi seeks revenge on the OZ by freeing an Ancient Evil, It's up to DG, Glich, Cain, Raw, and friends old and new to stop her. Will have some of Balm's Characters revamped. Rated for violence & language. R
1. Prologue

**Tin Man: The Wrath of the NOME**

**A Fan Fiction by: D W Tyn**

**Prologue: **

"It's just down this way, Sir Jeb," said the Site foreman to Sir Jeb Cain, Head Tin Man assigned to Edge Town, former Leader of the Resistance Guild, and son of the newly appointed Chief of the Tin Men, Sir Wyatt Cain. Jeb raised his lantern to reply, "Lead the way; and stop calling me 'Sir' Jeb. I'm almost as uncomfortable with my new status as my father."

"Oh," said the foreman, "and how is he handling his, Jeb?" Jeb slightly smirked, "He once told me that he'd rather go back in a Iron Suit than behind a desk." They both chuckled, and then the ended up to the entrance to a strangely lit cave. As he entered, Jeb's eyes gleamed with fascination as he saw a large orb glowing a dark purple color. The foreman walked to the nearest wall to show Jeb strange markings. "Over here," he said to Jeb, "are what our local archeologists believe to be either the story or the instructions of the Orb left by the Ancients; this is a great discovery: an artifact of the Ancients that still works."

Jeb took a closer look at the Orb. When he touched it he discovered that it was made entirely out of magical energy. Also, when he looked closer he thought he saw the outlines of faces appearing and disappearing right in front of his eyes. _If the Ancients made this thing_, Jeb thought, _why would they bury it underneath Mt. Edge? _Edge Town is an outpost town under Mt. Edge, and the closest town to the EV, or Empty Vast, the great desert surrounding the Outer Zone, or OZ.

Suddenly, he thought he heard someone else's footsteps in the cave. At first, he thought he was hearing things, but then, Jeb heard not only footsteps, but someone humming what sounded like an old lullaby. The voice humming it sounded female, ancient, and insane. Jeb said to the foreman, "There's someone here." He then turned to the direction of the humming, pulled out he revolver and shouted, "Who ever is here, show yourself, by command of this Tin Man." The last part was the command all Tin Men use to announce themselves; also something Jeb was still getting use to.

There were only two of them, but Jeb felt that there was something dark and unsettling about them; or, at least for _one_ of them. One was a girl that looked around Jeb's age. She had red hair tied in a pony tail, and light-brown eyes that had a mix of pain, sadness, and fury. Also, she was wearing a duster the color of saffron and was holding two pistols aimed at Jeb and the foreman.

The other was an old crone wearing what looked liked an older form of a female Royal Advisor that looked worn and tattered; and she was clutching a sinisterly crafted walking stick. She reminded Jeb of Glitch, the Head-Case who turn out the be the top advisor to Queen Glinda. But, instead of the zipper that Glitch had on the crown of his head, her entire head was made entirely out of rusted metal. The only things that weren't metal were her gray hair, that stuck chaotically to both sides, and her eyes, that were both bulging insanely, and glowing an eerily green. It seemed to Jeb that she was the one in charge. The crone's mouth piece opened, and with a voice that also sound rusted and mad, "Ah, so the Tin Men have been reestablished, eh?" she then cackled slightly, "Good, good. That means that horrid girl is no longer possessed by the Wicked One. Now we can begin."

With that, she turned her head to the girl, "Jinjur, would you be a dear and disarm this shiny, new Tin Man, but without killing him like _last_ time?" she said to the girl that sounded more like an order than a request. The girl bowed her head, "I will fight the urge and shall obey you, Lady Mombi." Suddenly, one of her guns fired and shot Jeb's gun right out of his hand. The ricochet made Jeb fall to his knees. Jinjur then walked up to him and looked down on him with a confident smirk on her face. "It's a shame you're one of those heartless, _murdering_ Tin Men," she said. " Because you're kind of cute. Oh, and you should count yourself lucky Lady Mombi wants you alive, because I never miss. _Never_." Jeb then slightly smiled. "Well, maybe, if we meet again, you can put your coin where your mouth is." Jinjur smiled puckishly at the idea, winking before saying, "Cutie, you got yourself both a deal _and_ a date."

After that, the foreman tried to make a break for it. before he could even make it to the tunnel, the crone made a gesture with her walking stick, and the foreman floated towards her, and, when he was near her, she made a hand gesture with her open hand, made his mouth open, and devoured his Life-Essence, just as Azkadellia did when she killed the Mystic Man. When she was finished, the Forman's body fell to the ground, then she turned to face Jeb, saying while cackling, "Run, young Tin Man. Run to Central City and to your Queen, whoever she be now, and tell her two things: One, that Mombi has returned. And, most importantly, that, after all these Annuals of searching, she has at last found the NOME, and they will feast upon the OZ and everyone in it."


	2. A Broken Dream of Princesses and Viewers

**_Author's Note:_** This chapter has had some major revisions. There's a lot more details in this chapter that I thought up all by myself. Oh, and I gave Raw a little extra for his character. Also, for all those Tin Man fans who thought Raw needed to have a love intrest in order to change break him out of his fuzzy shell, you wish is my command. Please, Read, Review, and Enjoy.

_Chapter One: A Broken Dream of Two Princesses and One Viewer_

Meanwhile, as Jeb rushes to Central City, DG and Az have two seemingly different dreams; but, in truth, they were the same dream; broken and mixed-mashed. They were both asleep in their own chambers in the Royal Building in Central City; one of the many places both the Royal Family and their friends like to make their home.

In DG's dream, she dreamt of the castle at Finaqua, the Royal lakeside estate. Inside the castle, in a hidden chamber, DG saw nine people standing in a circle, their features hidden by the shadows, chanting, "Emerald Circle. Emerald Circle." They were saying it over and over, even as DG approached them in order to get a better look at them. When she did, she felt a mixture of shock and confusion. She discovers that the chanters were people she knew and cared about. She saw the late Mystic Man, a little less grey-headed than she last saw him. Beside him was Tutor, the Shape-Shifter and former Magic Instructor she playfully nick-named "Toto" when she was a little girl; his side-burns the still the same color of the rest of his hair just as she remembered him. Beside him was someone she knew both so much and so little simultaneously: He may not be disheveled in appearance as he was the first time they met; and he did not had the zipper across the crown of his head; but she knew those angular facial features and bright eyes any where. It was her dear friend Glitch. Although, if this was a vision of the past like all the other dreams she had like this one, she was seeing Ambrose, the brilliant inventor and most trusted advisor to her mother, before he was turned into a Head-Case and became Glitch. And beside him stood DG's parents; both a little younger and just as she remembered them when she was little.

When she saw the faces of three of the last four who were suddenly revealed, DG was shock to find them standing with her loved ones. The one of the two who were bald was slightly fatter than the other and had a goatee was the same Longcoat general that attacked her and parents/Nurture Units in the Other-Side (Or, as she remembered what its called over there, Earth.); DG latter found out that he was General Lonot, a loyal general and Chief of the Tin Men turned traitorous Longcoat. She could see that he was wearing an outfit similar to Cain's hat and duster, only it was more fancy; she's suspected that that outfit was the formal attire of the Tin Men. _I had a feeling Cain didn't have an eye for originality_, DG mused to herself.

The other bald man was thinner and paler than Lonot, and had rather bulbous facial features because of his baldness and skinniness. That was Raynz, the former Chief Alchemist before he became the Head Med-E-Coat of Azkadellia/The Witch of the Dark; he was also the guy that personally removed half of Glitch's brain and tortured and experimented on Raw and his fellow Viewers.

The other one had blonde hair, cold blue eyes and _still_ had that arm-length gauntlet which turned out to be a cybernetic arm. It was Zero, that sadistic Longcoat bastard that tortured Cain's wife and son, Edora and Jeb, and then forced Cain to watch it over and over while he was in the Iron Suit. He was wear the outfit Lenot was wearing; only he wasn't decorated like Lenot was. DG was shocked to figure out that not only was Zero a Tin Man, but, judging from the decoration on his uniform, he may have been one of Cain's own _partner_. _Oh, Cain_, DG thought to herself as if the Tin Man could hear her, _no wonder you hated him so much._

The last person was someone DG never saw before. He stood beside Zero. He too was blonde with blue eyes, only he was a bit older and his eyes were kind and gentle; they were the opposite of Zero's, whose eyes were cold, cruel, and malicious. He was dressed in the Tin Man uniform Lenot and Zero were; the only difference was that he had more decorations than Zero, but fewer than Lenot. DG realized that these decorations must've represent rank among the Tin Men.

Suddenly, the scene shifts to somewhere else in the castle; this time in the catacombs underneath. There, DG stood in front of a locked door. Then, out of nowhere, the Emerald of the Eclipse magically appeared and floated in front of her. It then placed itself into an opening in the center of the door. It then opened up to reveal what looked like a mad scientist's laboratory. It had scientific equipment and about four or five containers that looked like glass coffins She then heard a sound that sounded like clockwork, but it strangely had the rhythm of a heart-beat. It was coming from one of the coffins. As she came to the coffin that was ticking, it opened on it's own to reveal a silhouette of a bearded man dressed in a suit and wearing what looked like a WWI British Army helmet. Then, with a clicking sound, his eyes opened; DG saw that instead of regular eyes, he had two sapphire colored lenses. As they were opening, a emotionless, robot-like voice-DG figured to come the man- saying what sounded like, "_Preserve and protect_."

Suddenly, the scene shifted to her mother's gazebo by the lake. There she saw two figures standing underneath it. One looked like a old crone with a robot head humming what sounded like a lullaby, but not the lullaby her mother sang to her; this one sounded sinister for some unknown reason. The other figure was tall man with a long beard with menacing features underneath; the other thing that was unsettling about him was that he was completely see-through. Just then, the castle in the background was disintegrating in front of DG's eyes. It was as like a tree being slowly destroyed by termites, but faster. As that was happening, the robot-headed witch and the ghost of Father Time laughed maniacally as the castle was nothing but dust. It was then DG woke up.

As DG was having her dream, Azkadellia was dreaming her own version of the Dream herself. She saw the same images as DG, but, in Az's dream, she saw some extra images. In one of them, she saw Edge Town, but it looked like it was being demolished by some unseen force; it almost looked like something was _eating_ the whole town. Suddenly, the scene shifted to the tunnels connected to the Orb Cave under Mt. Edge. In the darkness of the cave, she heard the strangest noises; they sounded like a combination of ancient, squeaking wheels screeching and the sound of feral, insane, and monstrous laughter. When she came to the Orb Cave, Azka-D saw the robot-headed witch in DG's half of the dream, talking to a shape inside the Orb. It was the same man that was also in DG's half. Az somehow got close to the Orb when the man jumped out into view shouting, "Find the Tippetarius, and destroy it before it wakes."

The scene shifts again to show somewhere in the woods of the South-Eastern part of the O.Z. The Emerald then appears out of thin air, and reveals a hidden door. The Emerald then opens the door to find that behind it was a bright light. _It's not _a _Light, _she thought, _it's _the _Light._

The scene shifts one last time to show the same ending of DG's half, but with one difference. Beside the witch and the ghost was Azkadellia, but it _wasn't_ her. It was her body, but instead of her face, it was the face of the Witch of the Dark. That's when Az woke up.

Elsewhere in the Royal Building, Raw was in his own quarters along with his little brother, Kalm, when the Dream started; this time, with extra images for him and him alone his own. The reason Raw having his own quarters is very simple; since he was a Viewer with amazing skill the likes of which haven't seen in three-hundred Annuals, he was highly qualified to be the next Mystic Man.

_**Foot-Note One:**_ If I may, I would like to take a break from our story to explain to you, oh dear Reader, to tell you that in this story, I shall place Foot-Notes in from time to time. That way, it would clear up some confusion you may feel right now: The Mystic Man that DG went looking for in Central City, and the very same one who DG saw being killed by Az/the Witch was not the first mystic man, and will _not_ be the last. You see, the title of Mystic Man is one of honor and wisdom given by the either the Queen or the Royal Family. It is given to the man (Or, in some cases in Outer Zone history, woman; if that was the case, the title would be temporarily change to the Mystic _Woman_.) who had the skills, talent, and/ abilities to see things that regular people cannot (The Future, Fate, The Fabric of Time/Space/Reality, ETC.) In other words the Mystic man was the Royal Seer. Raw's becoming the new Mystic Man was a great achievement within the Viewer community because there has never been a Full-Blooded Viewer Mystic Man; even down to the positions beginnings during the Emerald Dynasty… Oh, dear; forgive me, my dear reader, but I must end this Foot-Note. But, if you are wondering, the answer is yes, I will shed some light upon this mysterious 'Emerald Dynasty,' but I must do it in another chapter. Besides, nobody likes _spoilers_.

In his extra parts of the Dream, Raw saw more with the scenes in DG's version. In one happy scene, he saw the blonde man with kind eyes. Only this time he was with a little girl with bright-red hair. Raw somehow knew that she was the man's daughter. The scene changes from happy to sad when the blonde man is murdered in cold blood with his daughter hiding, but she saw the horrible scene. The man who shot him looked like a Tin-Man with blonde hair and a haircut that resembled Cain's; Raw could not be for certain who the killer was because his back was turned. Before Raw could see the face of the murderer, he saw the little girl grow up and change from a pretty little girl with eyes filled with innocence and happiness into a beautiful, yet deadly young woman with eyes filled with pain and anger.

The scene changed again into the scene with the ticking man with the lenses for eyes in the coffin. Raw felt strange feeling coming from the Ticking Man that he never felt before; there was _nothing_ coming from the Ticking Man; only the ticking noise. Raw thought that to be odd, because he could even feel the emotions of the Robots of Milltown; even though their emotions felt to him like cheap imitations.

The Ticking Man was not alone this time. There was another coffin to the left of the room that was beside the Ticking Man's own coffin. It did not open automatically like the Ticking Man's. However, Raw saw what was inside underneath a small amount of frost. It was nothing Raw never saw before, it clearly wasn't human, and it did not resemble any of the variations of Viewers are known as Tribes. Unlike all the Tribes, all of which were sentient and uplifted forms of all sorts of Earth mammal, this one looked like an insect. Strangely enough, it had what looked like a cane with a alien design in one of its claws/hands, and it was wearing a top-hat on top of it oddly-shaped head. Then, its eyes open to reveal he had Insectoid-like eyes. Raw was intimidated by this strange Man-Bug, like he was with the Ticking Man, but instead of feeling nothing, Raw felt a strange set of emotions he never encountered before. Clearly, the Man-Bug wasn't originally from the OZ; because those feeling were, in every sense, _alien_.

The scene changed again to the forest in the South-East that Azkadellia saw in her dream where she saw the hidden chamber that kept the Light. But before he saw that, Raw saw two people: One was a tall, skinny man with short, but wild red hair and wearing patched rags. There were two things about the man that caught Raw attention. The first was he was a Head-Case, only unlike Glitch, the zipper was across his forehead instead of his crown. The second one was that his mind wasn't completely suffering what Glitch went through, and in a way, still is, this Head-Case's mind was only a jumbled-up and incurable mess; he also had both a child's innocence and sense of wonder. The other person was the beautiful and exotic woman, Raw's ever seen before in his life. She had striped orange and black fur, a cat-like face, and a striped tail. This was a sign that she was a Viewer of the _Tigari_ Tribe; just as Raw's fur and mane showed he was of the _Leonae_ Tribe. There were other features that Raw thought were strange; despite her apparent Viewer heritage, she also had both the features and the mannerisms of a human. _A Mutt_, thought Raw.

_**Foot-Note Two:**_ A Mutt is the term given to a human/Viewer Hybrid. Though it sound derogatory, dear Reader, let me assure you that there are _far _worse names for Mutts.

Raw felt from the Mutt a sense of pride and valour, a heart of a warrior that all _Tigari_ females possess; Mutt or otherwise, and an overpowering and ever-present hunger. He also felt Love, but after a few moments, Raw figured it out. _Love not coming from Mutt_, Raw thought, _Love coming from _Raw. The last scene was the same scene the princesses saw, only the hungry invisible force didn't not stop in Finaqua; it disintegrated everything and every_one_ in the OZ until there was nothing but the Darkness and all who follow it.

Kalm was wakened from the many feelings coming from his still-sleeping brother. He went to Raw's bed to wake him. "Raw," said Kalm, as he was nudging his brother awake as all younger brothers do, "Raw, wake up. What wrong?" Raw then woke up in shock, startling Kalm, and in a breathless and scared voice he said, "_Beware, the NOME awaken_."


End file.
